The Rise Of The Three Crater Alliance

What I called a staging area was in essence a parking lot that spread out from the piers to the foliage. Someone had installed a hardpacked layer of clay with sand over it. The staging area was about ten wagon widths wide. I measured with my eye and was sure that the wagons could be parked in a ten by ten square, so that the wagons could be rolled right onto barges to be shipped into city.

A problem developed... I had underestimated the time it takes to park one hundred wagons. The early morning gave way to dawn. Dawn gave way to sunrise. Only 72 wagons had been parked.

The drawbridge of the castle crashed down and about forty knights rode out smartly. Who they were trying to impress I did not know.

Q had gotten it down to a science. A wagon would drive across the gap between the road and the staging area and be slotted into its row and column. The horses would be unhitched. Saddles would be taken from the wagon and put on two of the horses. The rigs would be dropped in back of the wagons. The drivers would each mount a horse and lead a horse to the camp down the river. While this was going on, the entire line of wagons would advance one wagon length.

I chivvied the kid out the door of the coach and down to the ground. Whatever I expected, I did not expect the column to halt and the commander of the unit to dismount and walk to us. As he came closer, I noted that he was about 5'6", had tanned white skin and that he had a close cropped beard shot through with white. I had seen soldiers like him in every military that I had interacted with. He was the officer they sent when they wanted some dirty job done right.

He said in jest, "Master Serstia, you are four days late. I was beginning to wonder whether a monster tide had overtopped your convoy." The man was VERY happy to see the kid. His smile exposed rotting teeth. I had a feeling that someone higher up had been riding this guy for news about the convoy. "I have sent a messenger by barge to inform your House that you have arrived."

"Sir Huatea, a monster tide attacked my convoy and killed everyone except me. This knight and his unit happened upon me, after the dying had occurred. He killed off the monsters, bound up my wounds, buried the dead, repaired the wagons that could be repaired and brought me here." This short recitation was said in a neutral tone... The smile on the other man's face disappeared like it had never existed.

"What? A convoy this size would have a thousand people in it. I..." He fell silent. He had come to pull the kid's leg and the leg had come off.

The kid said, "This is Sir Rock. Sir Rock, this is Huatea of the House of Gatarwa."

I stepped forward and presented my hand... Q had informed me that shaking hands was a shared custom... The man looked up to me... I am 6'8" tall... He shook hands with me, then stepped back.

Suspicion suffused his face. "How come you just happened along? Why would you go to this extent to help Master Serstia?"

"The second question is more interesting than the first. I am helping him on a whim. I have seen so MUCH death over the last six months.

"As for the first... I heard in a town named Fitawa that this road leads to a town named Gadtas. Is that so?"

The man blinked, then said, "I have been to Fitawa and, yes, the river road leads to Gadtas on the coast." He gestured to the road beside the river.

Barge traffic was picking up on the river now that it was full daylight.

"Good. I need to take the coast road south from Gadtas to a town named Weatas to claim my lands."

"What?! There is no coastal road between Gadtas and Weatas. Sh.i.p.s attempting to go to Weatas normally have to go way out to sea and come back in to Weatas. Sea monsters of every type seem to flock to the coast south of Gadtas. You have to go back to Fitawa and take the road south. You have come at least ten days out of your way."

I feigned utter surprise, then said petulantly, "I knew I should have taken that left at Albequerque!" Then I sighed theatrically. "Such is life. I will turn around and go back to Fitawa once the last wagon is loaded on a barge for Lishanam proper."

I turned back to the knight and said, "Your suspicions are that I might have had something to do with the destruction of the convoy." I walked back to the carriage and made a show of fetching something, when I really just ejected a pouch from my Pocket. I walked over to one of the wagons with the pouch in my hand. The knight and the kid followed me in a bemused state. I noted that the other knights were on edge as they sat their horses and looked around. "My people determined by questioning the perpetrators of this outrage that this is an intrafamily squabble that has cost the lives of over 1000 people... Squat down." That really surprised both of them. "This pouch slots into the front axle and is attached to the bottom of a wagon. As the wagon starts out, the axle pulls the pouch through and ejects the pouch contents onto the bottom of the wagon." I showed how the pouch comfortably fit between the axle proper and the bottom of the wagon. "In some cases the goo falls on the ground, but most times not. The goal is to make sure that the goo is not exposed to air before the convoy moves out.

"The perpetrators attached these pouches to almost all the wagons in the convoy before they started out eight days ago. The wind came down off of the heights and spread the smell everywhere." In truth it was three days ago, but who was counting? "Then the perpetrators ran like hell. They met up with a group that had lured a large number of monsters to a staging area." I bounced the packet in my hand. "The goo attracts monsters... I call it the Monster Mash. It attracts monsters in a flash... As the convoy passed near the staging area, all the monsters attacked." I pointed to the claw marks on the wagon. "No monster would normally attack a wagon like this, because their interest is in food." I noted that four of the knights were sweating in terror. They were holding it together, but they KNEW what this packet could do. I was a bit surprised that Sir Huatea was unaware of how dangerous the stuff was.

While this was all happening, the transfer of wagons was proceeding apace.

A barge with a very fancy carriage aboard had tied up to one of the piers. A woman had clamored ashore and scurried over to my coach where she promptly opened the door on the far side and got in. She touched the glass windows in awe. She felt the cushions. She messed with the table, lowering it into the floor and raising it a few times. The woman's entourage was slow to catch up to her, but they did. She had two or three lady attendants, twelve knights and an old guy whose demeanor screamed old school butler.

Other barges on the river by-passed this area and either went up the river to Lishanam proper or down the river.

All of this I observed as I spoke with Sir Huatea and Olpalkaj.

The woman jumped out of the open door on my side and stalked over to where I was. All the men present bowed to her. She turned to Olpalkaj and asked spitefully, "Well, Fatty, so you came back with a wagon train of immeasurable wealth. Is that your new carriage?" The way she asked it left no room for doubt that she HATED Olpalkaj... not just disliked him, but loathed him... for women's reasons.

Now this was your stereotypical teenaged princess: Beautiful clothes, silky white skin, black hair coufed just so... combined with an attitude.

Olpalkaj said stiffly, "No. This knight owns it." Then he fell silent.

She looked me up and down, then said with a voice that brooked no argument, "I like that carriage. I am taking it."

I looked around and asked Olpalkaj, "Can she just steal something she fancies from anyone she chooses?" I could tell that too many people present found all of this very humorous.

"Yes. She can. This is Princess Juyatwas of the House of Traewal, eldest daughter of the King of Lishanam."

I considered for a moment, then said mildly, "Princess, I suggest that you unload your old carriage from your barge and load the new on it. There simply is no room for the two of them on that barge." The surprise on her face indicated to me that she had come over here to injure Olpalkaj on his day of triumph. No one was balking her, so her attempt to hurt him had fallen flat.

Whatever I expected to happen next, I was totally unprepared for the woman to say, "Restrain this man. I like not his attitude. He did not bow to me. He was too familiar. He called me a thief... Fraweata, thrash him for me!" Q suddenly informed me that the translation item had been using familiar mode of the speech when it should have been the formal mode.

One of her guard detail moved forward. The man was in his early twenties. His armor was extra shiny. He carried himself as if he was without a doubt the smartest, toughest guy around. He gestured to two others who came towards me smiling menacingly. I shouted, "STOP! Everyone, just halt in place!" I stared the butler in the eyes. I said calmly, "You strike me as a man who can count. Sir Huatea has 43 men and the princess has twelve guards and two maid who can fight. You are no slouch either, but I might point out that I have 56 men ready for battle and can call on a total of 243." I gestured to the camp to the east. "If we set to fighting all out, Sir Huatea could call on his troops at the castle, but my troops will get here before his do. Count on it... My troops are battle hardened. We have travelled 2000 miles in six months. We started out with 2527. The 243 are all that are left. That means that these are the toughest of the tough... The princess can deploy at most 59 initially. The problem: They are not battle hardened. They are not top troops.

"Now, I swear to you, old man, that I will never physically harm your charge. I also swear that if we fight, I will chop you into pieces and drench the princess' beautiful dress in your blood. The king will deploy 10000 men to kill me. Until I die, she will get neither food nor water, nor a change of clothes. I will not fight a battle of conquest, but one of a fighting retreat. When I have made sure that I have broken contact with her father's men, I will send her to his lines and be gone... How many will die? 100, 1000, 2000... You forget that the road to Fitawa has too many monsters. The King's men will be fighting my men AND the monsters. Win, lose or draw, the princess lives. Many men die for no good reason except that a teenager in a fit of pique attempted to kill one of the most deadly men on the planet."

I paused... letting the tension build, then I said pointing toward the twenty-something, "I suggest that this doughty knight fight me to first blood and we call it a day. Alternatively a LARGE number of people will die for no real good cause... You and these men are sworn to protect the princess, even from herself. Please do your damned job. What say you?"

The old man stared at me for a moment, then said, "Princess, please have your doughty knight fight this man to first blood. I really and truly do not want to die today." He held up his hand to keep her from exploding. "Just do it my way this one time."

We all stood there... waiting. The princess finally said sullenly, "Don your helmet and fight this... man to first blood."

A tense silence passed as someone went and got the guy his helmet, shield and gloves. When he was dressed, he drew his sword. I pushed a virtual switch and my helmet and gloves closed around my head and hands... which surprised everyone present. I drew the two-handed claymore and faced the other knight. The old man said, "Begin."

I tore into his shield. The sword had been made for me by some nutcase who lived in an orbital colony. The sword shaved off pieces of his shiny shield like it was tofu. Meanwhile the guy was hitting my arms and c.h.e.s.t with all his might... My power armor made the blows feel like love taps. I maneuvered this guy around a few times, then hit his sword hard enough to jar it loose. Then I took my left hand off my sword and punched him in the nose. His nose guard collapsed inward and did a number on his nose, splashing blood onto his face.

I stepped back and said simply, "First blood. Let's end this." I saw that the man wanted to fight some more. "Guy, give it a rest. Your job is to protect the princess, not salve your wounded pride. You cannot protect her, if I damage you too seriously."

The butler said sharply, "Fraweata, stay focused. As much as it gauls me to agree with this monster, you are here as the princess' guard."

The man faced me angrily, "You should never look down on me."

"Why not? Sir Knight, let us compare achievements. Have you killed your forty?"

"What?!"

"Have you killed at least forty men in single combat. Where I come from a man does not boast as to killing more than forty... Well?"

"No." he said grudgingly.

"What was the largest body of men you commanded in battle? How many?"

"46."

"How many battles have you been in, both monster battles and human battles?"

He blinked and considered, then said hesitantly, "I think about 100." For a guy his age that seemed high, but possible, if he were a genius.

I said, "I have killed my forty. I commanded a force of 1000000 men. I have been in 936 battles... You lost because my armor is much better than yours. You lost because, because I have fought more often and longer than you... Now gather up your men and get ready to board the barge for wherever the princess is heading." While we had been screwing around, someone among the princess' men had gotten her carriage offloaded from the barge. Getting mine loaded was taking a bit longer than one would expect. In addition, Sir Huatea had slipped away with his troops. The images sent by the airborne drones allowed me to watch the troops start a sweep of the area using game trails I had not noticed up to that point. I had this feeling that they did this every morning. Q continued the process of forming the wagons into rows.

I backed up, putting distance between me and the princess' party. Saying nothing more, Olpalkaj joined me. I retracted my helmet and gloved, then sheathed my sword. The other side glared at me.

What I expected was that the princess would stamp off in a huff and accomplish little or nothing. Instead she stood there watching the wagons being processed. My coach that the princess had expropriated got stuck halfway onto the barge and halfway off. The wheel base was too large for to set comfortably on the barge. I could not exactly see how the coach wheel was stuck, but that it was stuck was evident.

Everything halted as the bargemen started arguing with the princess' people about who was responsible. Somehow the princess' drivers became involved. The noise was... almost comical.

The princess was about to become involved, when the last wagon passed before her... dragging the men who had killed all the people of the convoy. The men started screaming and begging for mercy. I had ejected the convoy an hour's distance from this place. These guys were so out of shape, they could not keep up with the wagon that they were chained to, so the wagon had dragged them for God alone knows how long, because they could not get their feet under them. Their friends had not helped them. I found that passingly strange. People in a time period like this would normally be more physically fit. Plus in the long wait for the wagons should have allowed these bozos to recover enough so that they could walk behind the wagon. One of Life's Mysteries.

Q unchained the 43 perpetrators from the wagon and attached their chains to metal stakes in the ground next to the road we had come in on. The distance between the wagons and where the prisoners were was about one hundred feet. I asked Q why she was putting them there. She pointed out that, if they escaped, they had the choice of running into the forest and being eaten by the monsters or trying to run up the road unobserved... where a monster might eat them. If she staked them next to the wagons and they escaped, they could try to hide in the wagons and damage something.

The princess stalked over to me... I idly wondered whether she was ever in a good mood... She said imperiously, "Release that man over there." She pointed to a guy in white clothes... or at least they had been white at some point. They were rags at the present moment. The poor guy was also heavily banged up and had dirt all over his face.

I was about to reply, when one of the drones in the air showed me something that I did not like. I turned to the trader and said, "Come along, kid, we need to enter the castle." I started walking, trying to decide whether this enter enterprise should be filed under, 'No good deed goes unpunished.'

The kid froze for a moment, then ran to catch up.

The princess was a bit stunned that I left without a by your leave. She started running after me... Before we got there, the drawbridge slowly rose amid the standard groans and clanking of chains. I could have jumped and caught the edge of it, but decided against it.

Q told me what this was all about. I was not amused. I had one of the drones clean up the carriage that the princess had unloaded.

The Sir Huatea and his knights rode back in and quickly piled up in the area where the drawbridge had been. Sir Huatea started screaming for them to let the drawbridge down. The people on the walls were having none of it. Sir Huatea suddenly screamed, "Then get the archers on the wall to give my men a chance to survive."

Someone started banging an alarm bell. Very quickly archers and other soldiers appeared on the wall. Sir Huatea got his men off their horses and in formation to fight a battle on foot... Horses are great for a battle of mobility, but not when you risk being surrounded pulled down and eaten.